<p>Hello! I'm new here, but I have a rather important question.</p>
<p>I've lived in Wisconsin all my life, but I would like to attend a state school in New York.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure my family can afford out of state tuition. </p>
<p>Here's the deal - in-state tuition would save my family almost $40,000. My grandparents live in New York City. If I was admitted to the New York state school and deferred enrollment for a year while I lived with my grandparents in New York City, would I qualify for in-state tuition? I would get a job and register to vote in New York. What else would I have to do to qualify as a resident? </p>
<p>Until you qualify as an independent student (usually age 24 or over, married, in a graduate program), your state of residence is based on where your parents live. Moving there, living with your grandparents, getting a drivers license - will not make you eligible for instate tuition unless your parents are residents.</p>
<p>Each state (and sometimes each public institution in that state) sets its own residence policy. You need to check out the websites of the public community colleges, colleges, and universities in New York to find out whether you can do this. In some states you can establish residence on your own, but you will need to present hard evidence that you are providing the majority of your own support, and that you moved to that state for reasons other than going to college. So no, you could not apply to college from out of state, then defer and move to that state for the purpose of establishing residency. You would need to move there first, find a job, start paying taxes, and after 12 months or so, apply to college there.</p>
<p>Sybbie points out two important factors…first…you need to establish residency in New York…which sounds virtually IMPOSSIBLE from based on what NY defines above…Your FAMILY would need to relocated for YOU (the student) to be considered a resident of NY State).</p>
<p>Second…you have the issue of financial independence…which is very clearly defined by the FAFSA using the criteria noted above. It is VERY clear that you cannot get financial independence from your parents either.</p>
<p>This question comes up over and over and over each year. Your state of residency as an undergrad is almost ALWAYS the state in which your PARENTS reside.</p>
<p>Another option is to live with your grandparents and commute to a SUNY or CUNY, and pay out of state tuition (about $13,800 per year - take the first two years at community college and out of state tuition is $7,630 each of those years).</p>
<p>If your stats are good, apply to Macaulay Honors @ CUNY and if you are accepted tuition will be waived (either in state or out of state).</p>
<p>RE: post #5, it is my understanding that the FAFSA rules for independence are not the same as the university residency rules for independence</p>
<p>Just as saying you are a NY resident on FAFSA by listing the address there would not confer residency, FAFSA’s rules don’t apply to residency determination.</p>
<p>So, you must look at that school’s rules. Each school in a state may have different rules, I know a girl at a Cal State who was told she could become a state resident in her 2nd year, though that would never happen at a UC.</p>
<p>Once you have read the rules, decide if you can make them work for you. Can you move to NY, get a job, pay your own way, even if you live with family there pay a fair rent. File your own tax return,etc.</p>
<p>If you are not willing to move to that state and establish your own independent residency, then you are not going to become a resident. If you show that you are committed to NY and move there, then 1-2 years later you can attend as a resident. I don’t know if you need 12 months residency before applying or before attending.</p>
<p>I had a DD move states (with no thought of further schooling at the time) in spring of year one and work and live in that state. When she completed her residency forms for a subsequent grad school in winter of year 2, she called and asked how to complete the form. They said she needed 12 months prior to matriculating, not prior to the date of the form submission. Once again, each school may be different.</p>
<p>Madimorial, what are your stats and which SUNY/CUNY are you interested in? Many/most of them give better merit scholarships to OOS kids than they do to instate…which tends to bring the already very reasonable tuition much closer instate cost.</p>
<p>True…in some cases. BUT that puts the OP in the situation of having to prove TWO things…both financial independence (which NY requires for independent student consideration…and that WOULD follow the FAFSA rules) AND independence for living purposes (which won’t solve the first issue at all).</p>
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<p>This won’t work in NY state to get independent status…sorry…doesn’t fit into their criteria.</p>
<p>Thanks, Thumper, for sharing your knowledge of NY. Each state and each school have different rules. The great thing about CC is the chance to get ideas from others, but if my state lets a 19 year old prove independence and yours doesn’t, it does not help you at all. You have to check the rules for the state AND the school you are considering.</p>
<p>It would have been my guess that a person who finishes HS, moves to NY and establishes a life could later attend a SUNY school as a resident, but that was just common senses, which rarely has anything to do with reality of government rules, eh? Perhaps your best bet is sk8termom’s OOS merit award idea?</p>
<p>I was curious, as I have not actually followed through to see the results in any cases of students I knew who wanted to prove residency on another state, so I Googled NY residency and see this:</p>
<p>Independent living would mean that the student would need to provide ALL of the financing for themselves…rent, utilities, insurance, food, clothing…EVERYTHING. The student would need to show evidence that they are not receiving assistance from their parents for anything…and would need to show evidence that they have earned enough money at a job to support themselves doing this. Even with that…many states (and I believe NY is one of them) is unlikely to grant instate residency to a student whose FAMILY resides in a different state.</p>
<p>I have posted on this a number of times – it is vitally important that a student or parent never, ever, “fibs” or . . . lies about residency. </p>
<p>It is abundantly easy for an Admissions office to determine where a student has been residing (have the computer search for all non NY zip codes on high school transcripts would be the first step). Even home schooled students can be very, very easily identified as to where they resided between ages 13 and 22. Believe me, thousands of dollars are at stake and they WILL check. </p>
<p>So what happens if you have used the grandparents address? The college might boot you out on an honors violation. Or it might hold your diploma or transcript until you fork over the nonresident fees for the semesters you attended. </p>
<p>Here are OP’s choices:
Attend a state university in WI as a resident
Attend a state university in NY as a non resident
Attend a private college anywhere at whatever price she/he can negotiate
Attend a state university in NY with a fee waiver. This can happen if the student is an outstanding athlete or scholar. OP can contact the college of interest and find out if/when fee waivers are offered. </p>
<p>Just don’t think you can fib. Particularly with the internet, it is much too easy to catch the liars. Don’t even go there! Good luck!</p>
<p>I understood that if a person lives and works full-time in a state for at least one year, he will be considered a resident of that state. Is that true?</p>
<p>lkf, residency and residency for tuition purposes are often two different things. One can obtain residency but still not be considered a resident for tuition purposes - for example, a resident need not be over age 24, but if they are still considered a dependent student by the college then they generally will not be allowed to claim residency for tuition purposes.</p>
<p>Remember, the whole purpose of instate rates is to give the taxpayers of that state access to affordable (or marginally affordable) educational opportunities. It certainly isn’t in the taxpayers’ interest to subsidize non-taxpaying families from other states.</p>
<p>Thanks everybody! I agree that that taxpayers of a state shouldn’t have to pay for out-of-state residents trying to work the system. My kids are either graduated from or situated in college. However, I know a student whose parent is determined to use this method to pay for his schooling in another state. It seems to be an ill-conceived plan at best.</p>
<p>It is MORE than ill conceived. If the student portrays themselves as being instate, when in fact they are NOT…it is highly likely the school WILL find out. The student will then be on the hook for the OOS tuition fees, could be asked to leave the school (for lying)…and if there is any public aid (state grants, for example) the student could be committing fraud by lying about instate status.</p>
<p>As pointed out above…these folks KNOW where they are in state residents. They are looking for “loopholes” and there are none. If instate tuition is a requirement…apply within the state that you are a resident…don’t try to make up a way to become one where you really aren’t one.</p>
<p>As advised to another poster…if verified for financial aid, for example…this student would not be able to produce an income tax record from their PARENTS using the new state as their residence…because it isn’t.</p>